October is the time of year that parishes are asked to focus on the three major themes of
Stewardship: Pray, Serve and Give
. As the pastor, I decided to make one of these areas my primary focus each year.
Give
- My first year, in 2017, we focused on the theme of giving. I am very happy to report that our Sunday giving has increased each of the last two years. A large reason for that success is that many of you have responded to my request to give weekly or monthly through Give Central. While I am extremely grateful for every dollar that makes it into the basket on Sunday, Give Central makes it much easier for us to plan and budget for the year ahead because we know how much people have signed up to give. This goes a long way in helping us maintain a consistent budget. To register for online giving, please visit our parish website or visit GiveCentral.org Thanks to our increased collections, we have been able to direct more of our budget to ministry and evangelization. We have hired parishioner and school parent Erin Bretts as our part-time Coordinator of Youth Ministry & Religious Education. And we have promoted Mary Jane Sullivan to our Director of Evangelization, so she is able to focus on expanding our adult ministry offerings.
Prayer
- Last year, we developed a Year of Prayer in which we offered different opportunities each month to learn new forms of prayer, devotions and spiritual practices. We have compiled all of those prayers into a single booklet which we will be handing out during Advent. And we will continue to offer some of the more popular experiences like Nativity Nights, Taize and scriptural studies on the Gospel.
Serve
- This year, our major focus will be on service. I have been enormously impressed during my time as pastor at how generous everyone is with their time and their talents. It's clear that St. Josaphat is your home and you have taken ownership of what goes on here. However, with a parish as vibrant as ours is, there is always a need for more volunteers.
Rather than focus on all of the different ministries and opportunities to serve
(which you can find on our parish website)
, I would like to focus on just a couple of areas where we need help. The first is the
Noon Mass on Sunday
. We could use more people to serve as
Lectors, Eucharistic Ministers and Ushers
. If that tends to be a Mass that you frequently attend, please consider registering for one of these ministries on our website and Deacon Pat or Mary Jane will train you.
The
Unity Gala is looking for more volunteers
. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year and is crucial to the financial stability of the parish. If you would be willing to volunteer or have items to donate for the Auction,
please contact Chairs Maja Barretto
or
Shirley Faye
and they would be happy to connect you!
You can help those in need with the
Helping Hands Ministry at St. Josaphat and Outreach Ministries at St. Teresa of Avila.
Our Helping Hands ministry feeds people in need Monday - Friday from 9:30 -11:00 am from our Red Door Room. If you would like to volunteer to make sandwiches and serve our guests, please sign up on the parish website under SERVE/Outreach. If you would like to volunteer to help people in need but can't serve during weekday mornings, I highly encourage you to volunteer with St. Teresa of Avila. Their parish offers multiple opportunities to serve weeknights and on weekends. They have a Friday Loaves and Fishes Dinner that they host each week and they collaborate with the Night Ministry to prepare and deliver food to the homeless. They are looking for more volunteers as they would like to expand this ministry. And they have a Food Pantry that serves guests on Saturday mornings. This is an especially good opportunity for families to do service together. For more information on St. Teresa's Ministries, please visit their website:
www.st-teresa.net
Thank you again for your great generosity and support for St. Josaphat. I am truly blessed to be the Pastor of such a wonderful parish with such dedicated and faithful parishioners.
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Are you looking for more ways to get involved
at St. Josaphat?
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Important Upcoming Dates!
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Oct 24 - Alpha, 6:30p
Oct 31 - All Saints' Day Vigil Mass, 7pm
Nov 01 - All Saints' Day
Nov 02 - Men's Spirituality
Nov 02 - All Souls' Day Mass of Remembrance, 10am
Nov 02 & 03 - Boomers Clothing Drive
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Explore life's big questions over dinner, a video and informal discussion. It's free!
Thursdays, 6:30-8pm
Fireplace Room
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All Saints' Day, a Holy Day of Obligation, is Friday, Nov 1st. Please join us for our anticipated Mass on Thursday Oct 31st at 7pm.
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All Souls' Day
Mass of Remembrance
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Please join us
Saturday, Nov 2nd at 10am.
Beginning this weekend, we invite you to bring a framed photograph of your family member and other loved ones who have gone before us. The photographs will be displayed in a special place of honor and your loved ones will be prayed for throughout the month of November at every Mass. Photographs can be retrieved the first weekend in December.
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Nominate a Parish Service Award Candidate
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Do you know someone who has been giving generous service through a parish ministry or parish-related volunteer activity? Every year in November, at the St. Josaphat Feast Day Mass (hint: this year it's Nov 10th), we present the St. Josaphat Parish Service Awards.
Click Here to nominate a candidate. Deadline for nominations is Nov 3rd.
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Have you been coming to mass for a while but you are not Catholic? Our parish will begin a process called RCIA, Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults in November and we would love to have you join us! To sign up or for more information please contact Mary Jane Sullivan.
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Volunteer for
Giving Tree
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Brighten someone's holiday -
interested in being part of the Christmas Giving Tree Committee? If you would like to be a part of this ministry, contact Kelly Smith
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Our next gathering is on
Saturday, Nov 16th
9a-11:30a in the Red Door Room for book discussion
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Save the Date
Unity Gala 2020
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Saturday, Feb 22nd, 2020
7pm-midnight
Rockwell on the River
3057 N. Rockwell
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Recycle your floral vases - bring them to
Ashland Addison Florist Co.
for a donation to St. Josaphat!
Shop smile.amazon.com and select St. Josaphat Parish as your charitable organization, and St. Josaphat gets
5% on eligible items!
Thank you for your support!
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